''Skin'' is the second studio album by Australian

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

musician

Flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...

. It was released on 27 May 2016 by

Future Classic Future Classic is an Australian independent record label, artist management team, touring agency, and music publisher that was founded in 2004. The label's current roster includes Flume, Flight Facilities, Ta-ku, Jagwar Ma, Seekae, Panama, ...

. The album was Flume's second full-length release following his self-titled debut in 2012. It features guest appearances from Kai,

Vic Mensa Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

Kučka Laura Jane Lowther, known professionally as Kučka (stylised in all caps; pronounced ; Serbo-Croatian for " bitch"), is an English-born Australian singer and producer. Lowther is known for her solo works, in addition to her collaborations wit ...

Tove Lo Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson (born 29 October 1987), known professionally as Tove Lo (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been called "Sweden's darkest pop export" by ''Rolling Stone.'' She is known for her raw, grunge-influenced take o ...

Vince Staples Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper and singer. Staples was once a close associate of Odd Future, Mike G and Earl Sweatshirt in particular. He is currently signed to Motown and Blacksmith Records. Staples rose to ...

Allan Kingdom Allan Kyariga (born January 6, 1994), better known by his stage name Allan Kingdom, is a Canadian rapper and record producer based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd along with Bobby Raps, Corbin, and Psymun. He was featu ...

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon The Chef, or simply Raekwon (), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success ...

Little Dragon Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Little Dragon' ...

AlunaGeorge AlunaGeorge are an English electronic music duo from London, consisting of singer-songwriter Aluna Francis and producer George Reid. Career 2009: Formation The duo first met in June 2009, when Reid remixed Francis' band My Toys Like Me's trac ...

MNDR Amanda Lucille Warner (born September 12, 1982), known professionally as MNDR, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She rose to prominence after being featured on Mark Ronson, Mark Ronson & The Business Intl's 2010 single "Bang ...

, and

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

. ''Skin'' received generally positive reviews and debuted at number one on the

Australian Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

, also peaking at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album was named Album of the Year at the 2016 ARIA Music Awards. It also won the

Best Dance/Electronic Album The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards — a ceremony that was established in 1958 — to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres. Honors in several categ ...

at the 2017 Grammy Awards. At the

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J and which are judged by the music and on-air teams from radio stations Triple J, ...

, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year.

Release and promotion

''Skin'' premiered via a Facebook

live stream Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but n ...

on 26 May 2016, which also included video segments of

Phil Taggart Philip Taggart (born 10 June 1986) is a Northern Irish DJ and radio presenter on BBC Radio Ulster. Early life Philly Taggart was born in Derry but was raised in Drumragh, a townland on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone. He attended the ...

interviewing Flume at the album listening party in London. " Never Be like You" featuring Canadian singer Kai, was released as the album's lead single on 15 January 2016. "

Smoke & Retribution "Smoke & Retribution" is a song by Australian DJ and record producer Flume. It features vocals from American rapper Vince Staples and Australian singer Kučka. It made its debut on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show and was released on 29 January 201 ...

" featuring American rapper

and Australian singer

, was released as the album's second single on 28 January 2016. " Say It" featuring Swedish singer

, was released as the album's third single on 20 April 2016.

Critical reception

''Skin'' was met with generally positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 75, based on 11 reviews. Aggregator

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

gave it 6.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said, "While it could have benefitted from some editing, ''Skin'' still shows a lot of growth--it's more mature, and more memorable, than ''

''". Kahron Spearman of ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'' said, "''Skin'' goes Technicolor and bigger, effectively standing on the shoulders of

Disclosure Disclosure may refer to: Arts and media * ''Disclosure'' (The Gathering album), 2012 *Disclosure (band), a UK-based garage/electronic duo * ''Disclosure'' (novel), 1994 novel written by Michael Crichton ** ''Disclosure'' (1994 film), an American ...

and giant stars including

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

, and album collaborator/reinventor

". Derek Staples of ''

Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

'' said, "Gearing up to be the next EDM crossover talent, Flume's sophomore effort, ''Skin'', showcases a producer at ease with all of the sounds moving tickets at America's major festival events: hip-hop, indie pop, and EDM". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Justin Carissimo gave the album a very positive review, stating that the album was "the audio equivalent of ecstasy". David Smith of the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' gave a similarly positive review, stating that "this is music that can do much more than get feet moving". Luke Fowler of ''Pretty Much Amazing'' said, "''Skin'' is the sound of Flume reaching for great heights and almost grasping what he seeks there". Stacey Anderson of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' said, " Wall Fuck" isshort and snappy, gone too fast in an album that could've been streamlined to let moments like it shine. But maybe it's the sound of floodgates opening". Keith Harris of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' said, "Restless versatility is all over the LP, generating the emotional crests and sensory overload a festival crowd demands, but with a nuance that'll make it work even if you aren't shirtless in the desert". Jonathan Wroble of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' said, "If the burden on electronic producers is to establish personality beyond a dense network of light displays and computer processing, this album gets Flume halfway there: It shows him as unquestionably human (overeager, alternately flashy and timid, sometimes more in awe than in control), but still a bit faceless". ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''s Craig Mathieson gave the album a positive review, stating that "the record is intoxicating and eclectic".

Jim Carroll James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work '' The Basketball Diaries'', which inspired a 1995 film of ...

of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' felt that several tracks seemed to emphasize "showing off textures rather than providing the breathing room for an actual song to emerge". Ben Thompson of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' said, "Distinguished guests—UK nearly siren

, rapper Vince Staples--are ushered respectfully through a series of viable electronic hinterlands, where a couple of them, notably perennial cameo supplier

and Wu Tang vet

, manage to put down roots in actual songs".

Industry awards

Track listing

All tracks produced by

. Notes * "Say It" features additional vocals by

Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the former frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac ...

* "Pika" features vocals by Wills

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Flume (musician) albums Mom + Pop Music albums Transgressive Records albums Albums produced by Flume (musician) ARIA Award-winning albums Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album